Methods and machines for the manufacture of cigar bunches or single-leaf cigars



1963 M. VERBAKEL METHODS AND MACHINES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CIGAR BUNCHES OR SINGLE-LEAF CIGARS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 11, 1966 wN a @Q 5 INVENTOR NAAT/Nus VZ-ABA/(EL M VERBAKEL 3,410,278 METHODS AND MACHINES FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CIGAR BUNCHES Nov. 12, 1968 OR SINGLE-LEAF CIGARS Filed May 11, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR "Z42 T/Nl/S Kwsmon.

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United States Patent 0 3,410,278 METHODS AND MACHINES FOR THE MANUFAC- TURE 0F CIGAR BUNCHES OR SINGLE-LEAF CIGARS Martinus Verbakel, Eindhoven, Netherlands, assignor to Arenco-P.M.B., n.v., Best, Netherlands, a company of the Netherlands Filed May 11, 1966, Ser. No. 549,282 Claims priority, application Netherlands, May 19, 1965, 6506349 3 Claims. (Cl. 131-20) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A continuous string wrapping machine for cigars in which preshaped plugs of scrap-tobacco or filler are placed end to end along a wrapper of unlimited length.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing cigar bunches or single-leaf cigars having at least one conically or spherically pointed end and consisting of a plug of scrap-tobacco and a sheet of band-tobacco extending in the longitudinal direction of and wrapped round said plug, said method comprising the steps of moving by means of an endless conveying belt a strip of band-tobacco of indefinite length longitudinally first past a scraptobacco feeding device for depositing scrap-tobacco on said strip and thereupon past means for bending said strip transversely round the scraptobacco and glueing its overlapping marginal zones after said bending operation to one another to form a cylindric rod of single-leaf-product of indefinite length and thereafter moving said rod of indefinite length past a cutting device to cut off cigar bunches or single-leaf cigars of predetermined single or double length therefrom.

The use of band-tobacco, that means sheet material formed from tobacco particles and a binding agent, makes it possible to manufacture cigar bunches or single-leaf cigars in the manner known for the manufacture of cigarets, consequently to manufacture a continuous rod, from which the bunches or the cigars are cut off. To this end up now cigaret-machines were used, the tobacco feeding device of which is adapted to the scrap-tobacco for filling cigars. Such machines produce a continuous cylindric rod which in all places is equally densely stuffed with scrap-tobacco. If cigar bunches or cigars having at least one conically or spherically pointed end must be made from the bunches or cigars out off from said rod, it is necessary that in a next apparatus scrap-tobacco is removed from said end of the bunches or cigars, since otherwise said pointed end cannot be pressed into the desired shape or the density of the scrap-tobacco in said end will be too high, so that the cigar will not draw well. Since the device for removing or pushing away scrap-tobacco from one of both or from both ends of the bunches or cigars cut off from the rod made by the wrapping machine has a small capacity in respect of the capacity of the wrapping machine many-of such devices must be provided behind the wrapping machine in order to make it possible to use the wrapping machine to its full capacity. Due to this fact the manufacture of bunches or cigars in the described manner becomes complicated and expensive. Moreover the removal of scrap-tobacco from the end or the ends of the cylindric products leads to a loss of tobacco.

The invention has for its object to provide a method which makes it unnecessary, when manufacturing bunches or cigars having at least one pointed end, to free said end partially from scrap-tobacco, so that the device for this purpose which is to be placed behind the wrapping machine can be dispensed with. It consists in that the scrap-tobacco is deposited portion by portion in preshaped plugs of the length required for a bunch or cigar of single or double length by the scrap-tobacco feeding device on the strip of band-tobacco lying on the conveying belt. Each bunch or each cigar manufactured in this way contains at once in each place the right quantity of scraptobacco and it may be directly placed into a pressing mould to obtain its definite shape.

The invention also relates to a machine to carry out the described method, said machine being provided in the same manner as the cigaret machines with an endless conveying belt to move a strip of band-tobacco of indefinite length longitudinally, a scrap-tobacco feeding device to deposite scrap-tobacco on the strip of bandtobacco lying on said conveying belt, means for bending said strip transversely round said scrap-tobacco and glueing its overlapping marginal zones to one another after said bending operation to form a cylindric rod of singleleaf tobacco-product of indefinite length and a cutting device to cut off bunches or single-leaf cigars of predetermined single or double length from said rod. However, this machine is distinguished from cigaret machines in that the scrap-tobacco feeding device is provided in the same manner as that of the cigar wrapping machines with means of forming preshaped plugs of scrap-tobacco of the shape and the length required for the manufacture of bunches or cigars of single or double lengths and for delivering said plugs one by one to the strip of bandtobacco.

Preferably the said machine is provided with the scraptobacco feeding device known with cigar bunching machines and provided with a horizontal pressing shaft having an inner cross sectional area corresponding to the longitudinal cross section of the bunch or the cigar of single or double length to be manufactured, a stamp mounted for reciprocation in said shaft and adapted to compress the scrap-tobacco fed into said shaft to form a core and to shift up said core intermittently, a vertical shaft connected to the free end of the pressing shaft and being open or adapted to be opened at its lower end, said vertical shaft being provided with an up and down moving knife to cut off periodically a preformed plug-shaped portion of scrap-tobacco for a bunch or cigar of the required single or double length from the core formed in the pressing shaft and with an up and down moving pusher to push the cut-off portion of scrap-tobacco out of said vertical shaft. To carry out the method according to the invention the said scrap-tobacco feeding device is completed with a gully which is provided below and extends in the direction of the width of the vertical shaft and is open at its upper side, whereas the conveying belt carrying the strip of band-tobacco is moved through said gully.

The invention will be further elucidated with the aid of the drawing. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a wrapping machine according to the invention,

FIGS. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 are vertical cross sectional views on the lines IIII, IIIIII, IVIV, V-V, VIVI, VII-VII, respectively, in FIG. 1, the sectional views III, IV, V, VI, VII being on a larger scale, and

FIG. 8 is, on a larger scale, a longitudinal cross sectional view of a portion of a rod or single-leaf product of indefinite length manufactured by the machine, from which cigar bunches or single-leaf cigars are cut off.

In the drawing A is the scrap-tobacco feeding device, B is the device for bending the strip of band-tobacco round the scrap-tobacco and for glueing said strip and C is the cutting device.

The scrap-tobacco feeding device A consists of a supply chute 1 for scrap-tobacco (see FIG. 2), a pressing shaft 2, of which a portion 3 of the wall is constructed as a valve for the supply chute 1 and in which a reciprocating stamp 4 is provided, a vertical shaft 5 connected to the free end of the pressing shaft 2 and being open at its lower end, said shaft 5 comprising an up and down moving knife 6 and an up and down moving pusher 7, .and a gully 8 mounted below the shaft 5, said gully being open at its upper side. The pressing shaft 2 has, in the present case, a cross sectional area (FIG. 1) which is somewhat tapered at the ends and corresponds to the longitudinal cross section of two cigar bunches or singleleaf cigars to be manufactured simultaneously and having each a single conically or spherically pointed end, said bunches or cigars being afterwards separted from one another by cutting. In the pressing shaft 2 the scrap-tobacco is compressed and formed by the stamp 4 into a wide core and it is periodically pushed into the vertical shaft 5, in which a plug-shaped portion of scrap-tobacco for filling a double bunch or a double cigar is cut olf from said core by the knife 6 and out of which said portion is pushed by the pusher 7. Owing to the shape of the pressing shaft 2 the cut-off double portion or plug of scrap-tobacco has at the ends less scrap-tobacco than in its intermediate part, so that the double bunch or the double cigar can be easily provided afterwards with conically or spherically shaped ends.

The device which is adapted to wrap the cut-olf portions of scrap-tobacco in a sheet of band-tobacco, that means a sheet of material made from tobacco particles and a binding agent, is provided with a conveying belt 13 supported by guide-rollers 9, 10, 11, 12 said conveying belt extending first through the gully 8 of the scraptobacco feeding device A, thereupon between two cooperating rollers 14, 15 defining .a substantially round passage (FIG. 3), then through a channel 16 containing pressing fingers 17 (FIG. 4), a first moulding channel 18 comprising a glue-roller 19 (FIG. 5) and a second moulding channel 20 (FIG. 6) and finally below a heated pressing member 21 (FIG. 7). The roller 12 serves to drive the conveying belt .13 and it is driven by the driving mechanism of the machine.

The cutting device C consists of a reciprocating tubular member 22, against one end face of which a knife 23 adapted to be moved both to and fro and up and down is forced (FIG. 1). To move the tubular member 22 and the knife 23 to and fro said member and said knife are connected by a driving rod 24 with an adjustable crank shaft 25 which is attached to a disc 26 driven by the driving roller 12 and provided at its periphery with a cam 27 which periodically pushes a two-armed lever 29, pivotally mounted on a shaft 28 upwards. The arm 30 of said lever engages a fork 31 of a swingable lever 33 provided on a shaft 32 which moves together with the tubular member 22. The knife 23 is attached to said lever 33. If the levers 29, 30 are swung upwards the knife 23 is forced downwards along the end face of the tubular member 22, while the knife and the tubular member are moved together to the left (FIG. 1).

This machine operates as follows:

The conveying belt 13 is driven by the driving roller 12 with uniform speed. This belt takes a strip of band-to bacco coming from a reel 34 along on its path through the machine and its speed is so adjusted in respect of that of the scrap-tobacco feeding device A, as to make the plug-shaped portions of scrap-tobacco delivered by said device to lie one closely after the other on the strip of band-tobacco 35 lying on the conveying belt 13 which moves through the gully 8. During the further transport of the conveying belt 13 and the strip of band-tobacco 35, which in the gully 8 are transversely bent in a U-form, the portions of scrap-tobacco 36 are forced on the strip of band-tobacco 35 and somewhat compressed by the rollers 14, 15 and the pressing finger 17. The conveying belt 13 and the strip of tobacco 35 then are first bent in an exact U-form by said rollers and thereupon so guided by said finger, as to guarantee that the conveying belt 13 and the strip of tobacco 35 are bent in the first moulding channel 18 in the right manner. It appears from FIG. 5 that in the first moulding channel one leg of the U- shaped cross section of the belt 13 and the strip 35 are held in a vertical position, whereas the second leg of said belt and said strip is bent round the scrap-tobacco 36. At the same time the vertical marginal zone of the strip of tobacco 35 is provided with glue by the glue-roller 19. In the second moulding channel 20 one part of the tobacco strip 35 remains bent round the scrap-tobacco but the corresponding part of the conveying belt is held in a vertical position again, whereas the other leg of the originally U-shaped cross section of the belt 13 and the strip 35 is bent round the scrap-tobacco 36 and over the marginal zone of the first mentioned part of the tobaccostrip 35 (see FIG. 6). The overlapping marginal zones of the tobacco-strip 35 are then glued together. The glueconnection is dried by the heated pressing member 21 (FIG. 7), so that a cylindric single-leaf product of indefinite length is produced which is moved out of the machine through the tubular member 22. From this cylindric single-leaf product portions having the length of a double bunch or a double cigar are periodically cut off by the knife 23. Since the cylindric product is moving continuously out of the machine the tubular member 22 and the knife 23 must be moved together with said product during the cutting operation.

It is also possible to move the conveying belt 13 stepwise over distances equal to the length of a double bunch or a double cigar. In that case the tubular member 22 and the knife 23 need not perform a reciprocating movement.

FIG. 8 shows that the filler of the manufactured cylindric single-leaf product is less dense in the vicinity of the boundary between two adjacent portions of scrap-tobacco 36, 36' than in places which are more remote from said boundary. The knife 23 will have to cut the cylindric product exactly at the boundary between two portions of scrap-tobacco. Then double bunches or double single-leaf cigars are obtained which contain at the ends less scraptobacco than in the intermediate part thereof, so that these ends may be easily given a conical or spherical shape and after such a double bunch or double cigar has been cut in halves two bunches or two cigars are produced which are each provided with a tapered or pointed mouth-end. The bunches or the cigars may be pressed into their definite shape in normal pressing moulds.

It will be obvious that also bunches of single-leaf cigars having two conically or sperically shaped ends or bunches for cigars having a tapered body and pointed ends or single-leaf cigars of such complicate shape may be made in a machine according to the invention. In that case the scrap-tobacco feeding device must deliver preshaped portions or plugs for single bunches or cigars.

The main matter of the invention must 'be seen in the combination of the known intermittently operating scraptobacco feeding device of the cigar bunching machines and the known moulding channel used in cigaret machines, in which the filler tobacco is wrapped in a strip of wrapping material of indefinite length in continuous operation.

What I claim is:

1. The method of manufacturing cigar bunches or cigars having at least one conically or spherically tapered end and consisting of a plug of scrap-tobacco and a sheet of band-tobacco extending in the longitudinal direction of and wrapped round said plug, said method comprising the steps of compressing and forming individual plugs of scrap-tobacco to a shape having at least one tapered end, directly depositing said plugs while in compressed state into a longitudinally moved strip of band-tobacco of unlimited length formed as a trough which substantially retains such compressed state, further compressing the plugs in the strip from above and below, substantially immediately after said further compressing bending said strip transversely round the scrap-tobacco plugs and glueiug its overlapping marginal zones to one another after said bending operation to substantially continuously retain the compressed state of said plugs and form a substantially cylindrical rod of unlimited length consisting of a row of aligned compressed plugs of scrap-tobacco surrounded by a continuous sleeve of band-tobacco, and cutting said rod at points between adjacent plugs of scraptobacco to form individual rod-shaped tobacco products which are ready for further treatment.

2. A wrapping machine for the manufacture of cigar bunches or cigars having at least one conically or spherically tapered end, said machine comprising an endless conveying belt to move a strip of band-tobacco of unlimited length longitudinally, a device to compress and form plugs of scrap-tobacco of the required length having each at least one substantially conically tapered end, means for directly depositing said plugs in compressed state onto said strip of band-tobacco with their axes aligned and parallel to the longitudinal axis of said strip, means for retaining the compressed state of said plugs within said strip, said plug compressing and forming device and said plug depositing means forming part of a scrap-tobacco feeding device, means for bending said strip transversely round the said plugs lying on said strip, means for glueing the overlapping marginal zones of the transversely bent strip to one another to form a substantially cylindrical rod of tobacco product of unlimited length and a cutting device for cutting said rod at points between adjacent plugs of scrap-tobacco contained in said rod.

3. A wrapping machine for the manufacture of cigar bunches or cigars having at least one conically or spherically tapered end, said machine being provided with a scrap-tobacco feeding device comprising a substantially horizontal pressing shaft, of which the inner cross sectional area corresponds to the longitudinal cross section of the bunch or cigar to be manufactured, a stamp mounted for reciprocation in said shaft and adapted to compress the scrap-tobacco fed into said pressing shaft to form a cake of scrap-tobacco of predetermined shape and to shift up said cake stepwise, a vertical shaft connected to the free end of said pressing shaft, which is at least intermittently open at its lower end, an up and down moving knife provided in said vertical shaft and adapted to cut off intermittently preshaped plugs of scrap-tobacco from said preshaped cake and an up and down moving pusher provided in said vertical shaft and adapted to push the cutoff plug out of said vertical shaft, characterized in:

the provision of a gully mounted below said vertical shaft and extending in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the cut-off plug to be pushed out of said vertical shaft, an endless conveying belt laid through said gully and adapted to move longitudinally a strip of band-tobacco of unlimited length and the cut-off plugs pushed out of the vertical shaft and deposited one by one onto the portions of said strip contained successively in said gully, means mounted behind said gully in the direction of movement of said strip and adapted to bend said strip transversely around the preshaped plugs lying on said strip, means for glueing the overlapping marginal zones of the transversely bent strip to one another to form a substantially cylindrical rod of tobacco product of unlimited length and a cutting device for cutting said rod at points between adjacent plugs of scrap-tobacco contained in said rod.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,367,911 1/1945 Wells 131-59 2,571,618 10/1951 Rundell 131-80 3,055,373 9/1962 Cras 131-21 3,237,628 3/1966 Riegger 13120 FOREIGN PATENTS 504,046 7/1951 Belgium.

HUGH R. CHAMBLEE, Primary Examiner. 

